Globalization. Market migration. Outsourcing. Every new strategic buzzword describes reactions to business trends and necessities that result from advancing technology. In today's marketplace, sweeping changes often come unexpectedly, in a matter of months. Free-flowing information has short-circuited every industry's lines of communication. In the age of the Internet, the Intranet and the Extranet, technologies evolve and markets shift almost overnight. Companies must continually reinvent themselves as well as their products. Management must take responsibility not only for setting new business goals, but getting a critical mass of employees to support them. Those that don't are being swept aside or swallowed every day.

Management Reorganization
Your new CEO may have been duly elected by the Board of Directors, but will he be genuinely welcomed by a majority of employees? He will need to win them over as well—quickly—if he plans to implement major strategic changes. The same holds true right down the chain of command.

Mergers and Acquisitions—Most aren't as successful as hoped. Consider the facts:
The total value of mergers and acquisitions in the US is about $1 trillion per year. More than 60% of these diminish the overall market value of the companies. Half result in lowered productivity, profits, or both. Between 33% and 55% of all acquisitions are divested within five years. Analysts consider only one in five mergers financially successful.

Beating these odds requires careful attention to creating an organizational culture that includes all stakeholders in a shared commitment to success of the new entity.

When the old rules don't work, it's time to formulate some that apply to new functions, new markets, new products, and especially new ways of dealing with cultural inertia. Regardless of market forces, an organization without a critical mass of employees who can envision and forward its mission is destined to run into an invisible brick wall--a barrier that already exists in the minds and hearts of its employees. Remember when the Personnel Department was renamed the Human Resources Department? That was the day a paradigm shift occurred: the "workforce" became a community and a valuable asset to be developed.

Traditional management methods won't work here, because the processes themselves are different. What will work is a breakthrough in the collective mindset. What will catalyze such a breakthrough is true leadership--the ability to demonstrate and elicit cohesion, coherence and conviction of principle.

If your company is on the verge of reinventing its core business practices, reorganizing its leadership or exploring a merger or acquisition, or if any of these are already in the process, we can assist you to identify your strengths and weaknesses, define your goals, communicate your new vision, mobilize your management team, and win the enthusiasm of your people.

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